KATARZYNA NIEWIADOMA
WM3 PRO CYCLING
So the first part of my season came to an end at Liège in a place I had become a bit familiar with - third behind Lizzie Deignan and Anna van der Breggen, just like at Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallonne.
It was an amazing experience to be part of the first women’s LiègeBastogne-Liège and it was made better by a big gang of my family at the finish. They were waiting for me at the top of the hill all dressed in red and white and waving Polish flags. It was a great welcome home and a lovely way to finish the Ardennes.
They had arrived before Flèche, which was the race I really wanted to win. But I had asked them not to come and see me before the start. I hadn’t seen them since January and I knew for sure that if I saw them I was going to cry! It wouldn’t have been ideal mental preparation for the race. But knowing they were waiting for me at the finish was extra motivation. It makes a big difference to know they are close.
They have got a taste for coming to watch me now. I think they’re plotting their next trip: probably to the Giro or La Course – they are still deciding which one.
I was supposed to fly back to Kraków the day after Liège, but I thought to hell with it and jumped in my parents’ campervan and we drove back. Getting comfy enough to sleep was a problem but after such a physically and mentally tiring couple of months, it was worth the extra day I had with them.
Back home, my break was broken up with a bit of media work. I got to go on Dzie Dobry TVN, Poland’s biggest morning television programme. That was cool. They’d been following my progress closely and they’ve got behind cycling in a big way, so it was great to be able to tell them about women’s professional cycling. Hopefully some youngsters will be inspired to try the sport themselves. It’s been great to be home and give the bike a rest but now I’m starting to get twitchy and want to get back to Girona and start working. I had a full week off and wow, I felt pretty bad the first ride back. Form takes ages to build but disappears so quickly. I can’t wait to get it back.